Braille is a form of writing composed of raised dots forming letters and words created and named after its creator, Louis Braille. Basic Braille writing consists of two columns of three dots. Numbered 1-2-3 from top to bottom on the left and 4-5-6 top to bottom on the right, letters, words, punctuation marks, numbers, and music notes are made using different combinations of the dots. When Louis Braille was young, and accident involving an awl permanently blinded him, leading him to create an efficient way for him to read.
The History of Braille
When Braille was just eighteen, he published his first book explaining his system of writing and reading for the blind. It was immediately popular with blind students and quickly replaced older methods of reading and writing for the blind. Before Braille was invented, blind people would read embossed (raised or imprinted) letters on paper which were incredibly difficult and even harder to write. Although Braille was quickly excepted, teachers and professors where still skeptical because it seemed to make another barrier between the seeing and the blind, and another obstacle to overcome when learning the "language." When first introduced to the Untied States in 1869, it struggled to be accepted before it was created into the Standard English Grade Two Braille Code in 1932. From this point until the 1960's, majority of blind people were taught Braille form an early age, making a high Braille literacy rate. In the 20 years from the 60's to the 80's, Braille literacy went down to 10%, meaning that now the majority of blind people were illiterate (they cannot read nor write).
Louis Braille
Causes for Braille Illiteracy
They are several reasons as to why many blind citizens became illiterate during the time span from 1960 to 1980. For example, around the time of 1965 the emphasis on teaching young children who had some remaining vision to read Braille went down. This means that as they children's eyesight deteriorated when they got older, they were left with nothing to rely on when reading or writing. Also, the public had a negative attitude toward blind people because they didn't understand the communication skills they needed. The lack of high quality Braille teachers also had an effect, as well. Without people teaching Braille well enough, young children's skill never developed enough which effected them later as adults. The common misbelief that learning Braille would be impossible after reaching adult hood discouraged newly blind adults to learn the code, lowering the literacy rate also. The final reason as to why Braille literacy lowered was because of other misconceptions and the thought of it being a strange concept and idea, so blind people were viewed as such, demoralizing many new learners.
Braille Presently
Since the 1980's, public awareness has risen, and the literacy of Braille has inclined. Efforts such as keeping the public aware of the benefits of Braille and and making efforts to adopt state laws that strengthened opportunities to gain Braille instruction and instructional materials for the blind certainly help raise Braille become more popular. Nowadays, the blind have access to quality Braille instruction, and today more than 80% of blind people use Braille in their everyday lives.
Louis Braille
Braille is a form of writing composed of raised dots forming letters and words created and named after its creator, Louis Braille. Basic Braille writing consists of two columns of three dots. Numbered 1-2-3 from top to bottom on the left and 4-5-6 top to bottom on the right, letters, words, punctuation marks, numbers, and music notes are made using different combinations of the dots. When Louis Braille was young, and accident involving an awl permanently blinded him, leading him to create an efficient way for him to read.The History of Braille
When Braille was just eighteen, he published his first book explaining his system of writing and reading for the blind. It was immediately popular with blind students and quickly replaced older methods of reading and writing for the blind. Before Braille was invented, blind people would read embossed (raised or imprinted) letters on paper which were incredibly difficult and even harder to write. Although Braille was quickly excepted, teachers and professors where still skeptical because it seemed to make another barrier between the seeing and the blind, and another obstacle to overcome when learning the "language." When first introduced to the Untied States in 1869, it struggled to be accepted before it was created into the Standard English Grade Two Braille Code in 1932. From this point until the 1960's, majority of blind people were taught Braille form an early age, making a high Braille literacy rate. In the 20 years from the 60's to the 80's, Braille literacy went down to 10%, meaning that now the majority of blind people were illiterate (they cannot read nor write).
Causes for Braille Illiteracy
They are several reasons as to why many blind citizens became illiterate during the time span from 1960 to 1980. For example, around the time of 1965 the emphasis on teaching young children who had some remaining vision to read Braille went down. This means that as they children's eyesight deteriorated when they got older, they were left with nothing to rely on when reading or writing. Also, the public had a negative attitude toward blind people because they didn't understand the communication skills they needed. The lack of high quality Braille teachers also had an effect, as well. Without people teaching Braille well enough, young children's skill never developed enough which effected them later as adults. The common misbelief that learning Braille would be impossible after reaching adult hood discouraged newly blind adults to learn the code, lowering the literacy rate also. The final reason as to why Braille literacy lowered was because of other misconceptions and the thought of it being a strange concept and idea, so blind people were viewed as such, demoralizing many new learners.
Braille Presently
Since the 1980's, public awareness has risen, and the literacy of Braille has inclined. Efforts such as keeping the public aware of the benefits of Braille and and making efforts to adopt state laws that strengthened opportunities to gain Braille instruction and instructional materials for the blind certainly help raise Braille become more popular. Nowadays, the blind have access to quality Braille instruction, and today more than 80% of blind people use Braille in their everyday lives.